Day 22 Advent Challenge Did the earth move for you too?

Well it did here in Keswick.... http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/recent_events/uk_special/coniston_21_dec_2010.pdf

This link gives the info on last night's earthquake. It was at 11pm when DH said his door shook upstairs and I heard the rumble in my den.  Anyway, we looked out of the window and saw another chap doing the same but all was quiet on the street, no bedlam or panic, only our white icy winter wonderland which has gripped us now for what seems like a month!

I had been engrossed for the earlier part of the night in my floral arrangement above the mantlepiece in my den.  This is the before photo, and I hope you can see the different foliage I used, namely, holly, ivy, fir tree and Cupressus with a couple of candles for good measure, not to be lit mind....

The clock was made for me by DH after we collected shells whilst on holiday camping on the Dingle Peninsular years ago when we were right by the sand dunes which led onto the beach. Twice a day Jock and Bramble our two lovely Parson Jack Russell Terriers used to charge at full gallop down the beach. That's when we collected the shells. I am afraid they are now rather blacker and dirtier on the top of the glaze as the clock has been over the wood burner for about 8 years now! Never mind, I have a second clock constructed on similar lines in the hall which is pristine. The painting is by my Dad and it's a fox he did the winter before he died and I always keep it in my room. I love this little painting because I always think he was as clever as a fox.....He was only an amateur though not like DH who was an art student at Maidstone College of Art when I met him.

Anyway, onto the second photo which is the after..............what do you think? is it an improvement?

These are the lights I went to Ambleside to buy at Hayes Garden Centre, you see I used to have a set which did this lovely slow fade in rotation so not all the lights went out at the same time. They were leftovers from DD's move to California and I inherited them along with lots of other Christmas decorations when she went. But a couple of years ago some of the bulbs failed and I did't know which voltage to replace them with. So after searching in vain I decided to send them to the re cycling centre. That meant no slow fade lights last year and that meant no arrangement over my wood burner which kinda spoilt the effect in my den.......So I was really pleased to find a similar set when searching on the internet at Hayes. This is showing them all on together not on slow fade but I did need to get a lighter photo.

Day 21 Advent Challenge I see the moon, the moon sees me......

Now that title is in a song but I can't get past those few lines, does anyone know how it goes?

I did see the eclipse this morning through the bedroom window and I was not going to open it for anything as it was -14 outside!  Anyway, I snapped away with my camera but none of the results were good enough for this blog; I do have some standards. By way of a substitute then, I am showing you a kitchen cupboard the way I like to display it with my dryed hydrangeas on top.  Each autumn I replenish them so they stay fresh looking as in my opinion there is nothing worse than old, tired, dusty flower arrangements. I usually add a few fairy lights at Christmas and they look pretty in the kitchen at night when all the other lights are out.  So I am gradually decorating the house with a little bit new each day.

This afternoon, Bella and I went for a walk in the woods and picked some wild ivy and a few little snips of fir tree from Hope Park..... I went round the back of the tree and took a little from there. The result will be shown soon as I am still arranging the foliage at the moment and broke off to do this blog because I suddenly realised that time was ticking away again......So I must go or else.......

Day 15 Advent Challenge Bought the tree, yippee!

Yes, we went to Whinlatter and chose a Nordman Fir for the first time, our usual tree is a Norwegian Spruce but they all looked a bit bushy round the bottom without much stalk.  It's being conditioned in a bucket of deep cold water in the garden with the old end cut off to expose new wood which will take up the water more easily. I will leave it there a couple of days though because that's how long it needs to condition. You see one of my skills is Flower Arranging or at least it used to be, as I have a City & Guilds in it, although it was a few years ago now and I don't often 'arrange'.  But I like to at Christmas and will try harder this year. (The reason people have 'needle drop' on their trees is because they rush them into the warm house before they are given a really good cold drink.)  It's going to be very cold here tomorrow and may snow again so the tree will be in it's element outside too.

The ducks used to have pate in them and they sit on my dresser in the kitchen and I usually try and buy another one each year but Booths Supermarket are not displaying any this year ...... I wonder why? They have been putting them out on the Christmas shelves every year for many years but none this year, blast.... I especially wanted to buy one because a friend admired them in the summer and I thought I would buy one as a gift for her, eat the pate first mind because she usually comes up in the Summer. If you see any, will you let me know where?

Tonight we are starting to design the cards and we have already chosen a photo we like and bought some lovely bright red card for the backing.........